Fancy Meeting You Here!
by QuirkQuirk
Summary: Sasuke takes his life too seriously, and Naruto doesn't take his seriously enough. And yet somehow, some way, opposites attract. AU COMPLETE
1. Work, Work, Work

**Author's Notes:** God help me, I'm actually writing a Naruto fic. I swore this day would never come, but… Oh who am I kidding, I love this crazy fandom and had oodles and oodles of fun with this story idea. XD

Hmm… so yeah, I've had this sitting around in the back of my brain for so long… Initially it was two separate stories and I couldn't figure out what to do with them, but one day they clicked together and VOILA! This fic was BORN!

**The disclaimer! **Don't own Naruto. And frankly, I am GLAD, because CRAP MAN, the fans are CRAZY in their efforts of trying to get their sticky paws on it! I would not have the power to fend them off, and my fine creation would go straight to the jackals and get ripped apart. XD

So yeah, I just borrow to play, and then put things back where I found them… with a little extra gay added in.

**Pairings: **Sasuke/Naruto, thwarted attempts of Sasuke/other people, side hints of Neji/Gaara.

**Summary:** Sasuke takes his life too seriously, and Naruto doesn't take his seriously enough. And yet somehow, some way, opposites attract. AU

**Warnings:** Boys bonking eachother.

**Other Stuff: **I have no idea what is wrong with me for the title that I chose for this. XD It just… seemed to fit? And I promise it kinda makes sense within the story! … sorta?

**...o.O.o…**

**...x.x.x.x.x.xx.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x..x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x…**

**...o.O.o…**

Sasuke worked way too much.

True, he only had an odd job at a little in-mall food court, but he took it _seriously_, damnit.

Every day he would arrive no less than twenty-one minutes early, to set up his work area and get ready for the flood of people that would surely be pouring in once the mall opened. He worked a food booth, which was more than just a shabby _booth_, thank you very much. The area was sectioned off by walls on either side and one behind, with a large counter running along the front and a cash register off to one side. Sasuke always kept his counter spotless, and his cooking area (while not entirely under his control, as he did none of the actual _preparing_ of the food) was always kept organized and clean.

Sasuke sold Japanese food. He sold Japanese food to authentically Japanese people looking for a quick takeout meal that would be familiar to them, but he also sold it to people who had _no_ idea what they were looking at on the menu.

"_What is teh…tem… temp…?"_

"_Tempura."_ He would tell them. _"Deep fried and battered. It makes the food crunchy and breaded."_ A crude explanation of a much more delicate process resulting in exquisite, authentic, Japanese food… but it would suffice for the silly little girls who insisted on stopping by his booth, giggling and slandering the pronunciation of words that honestly weren't that hard, as far as Sasuke was concerned.

He didn't exactly like his job, but he thrived on it nevertheless. It gave him purpose and something to dedicate himself to. It wasn't as though he needed the money – his family was rather well off and paid for his rather lavish apartment and utilities, but his brother had thought it… _prudent_ for him to get some real-world experience, and had casually mentioned the notion to their parents, who had taken to the suggestion quite enthusiastically and shoved him straight into working as a regular, lower-class citizen.

At the mall that they, technically speaking, _owned_.

But it wasn't as though Sasuke was going to have anything better to do over his summer vacation after a trying year of schooling. It was ironic, yes, that he was working as food court staff in an establishment that he could have just as well been lording over, but it wasn't terrible.

So every morning, exactly twenty-one minutes early, Sasuke would be the first person to work in the food court to set up his station for the busy day to come.

**-o-**

Every morning, around five minutes (give or take) late, Naruto would rush into the mall, pulling on his vest and tie as he dashed through other workers and early shoppers. Disapproving looks didn't even have time to stick, as he was in too much of a hurry, and didn't really care what anyone else thought, anyways.

Naruto was a bag boy. Oh, it wasn't glorious, but it paid the bills… barely.

Disheveled blonde hair that just hadn't fond the time to get combed was hastily raked through with nervous fingers as Naruto took his place at the end of the checkout counter conveyer belt. The employee he was working with, most unfortunately, was an enthusiastic young man with an ingrained need to fill everyone's day with advice on how to better themselves and have a more fulfilling life, so _every_ morning, Naruto was treated to the same little speech.

"Naruto! Late again! It is unwise to develop such habits in your youth, when such is the prime time to build –"

"Can it, Lee." Naruto grumbled, fitting some plastic bags onto their hooks, so that he could easily rip them off as groceries came down the conveyer belt to him. It was a Monday, and Mondays SUCKED – he didn't need Lee's upbeat attitude kicking him in the face for his shortcomings this early in the morning.

In typical Monday fashion, the day just dragged on and on and on. It seemed as though fifty forevers had passed before it was – FINALLY! – time for his lunch break. Discarding his tie with a happy whoop and sticking it into his back pocket, Naruto skipped away to the food court for some lunch.

And it really was nothing more than a hop skip and a jump to the food court. The grocery store checkout was bumped right up against it, so all Naruto had to do was frolic his happy little self but a few yards, and he was right smack dab in the centre of a virtual _paradise_ of wonderful things to eat.

Every day he went to the very same place to eat – a Godsend of a booth that sold delectable, mouthwatering _ramen_. Naruto supposed them must sell other things as well, but he never really bothered to check.

"Hi!" he greeted, just as he did every day, to the apathetic teen behind the counter. "How are you today, Shikamaru?"

As usual, the other boy couldn't be bothered with an actual reply, instead he just sighed and punched in Naruto's order out of habit without even having to ask. "You'll be having your usual?"

"You better believe it!" the blonde enthusiastically replied. "One bowl of delicious ramen with all the good stuff!"

"Good stuff. Heh." Shikamaru echoed in an under-his-breath mutter, ringing the total up. Handing his hard earned money over (but it was worth it for a bowl of deliiiiicious ramen!) Naruto wiggled happily in anticipation for his food. "Your food will be ready in a few minutes."

"Thanks!" Naruto replied, as though the bored, monotonous male had done him a personal favour. Humming, he went to find a seat at the counter, hearing a tired "troublesome" follow him from the register.

As luck would have it, his seat was open. Yes, _his_ seat. He was a regular customer, and therefore he had a regular seat. Every day he would order his food, move on down the counter to the barstools, and plop down on one specific bench, next to one specific person.

**-o-**

Sasuke never made much use of his lunch break. The food in the food court sucked, he didn't have enough time to go home and make a _decent_ meal for himself, and he had never been one for socializing. So every day he would grab a cheap coffee, go back to his food booth, pull out a book that he always made sure to bring to work with him, and take the last seat at the end of the counter, intending on partaking of his break in the most anti-social manner possible.

But lately this had become rather difficult to do.

The counter was not especially long, but then again the customers were not excruciatingly frequent, so there were always plenty of open seats. However, in the past few weeks an obnoxiously cheerful blonde had taken to sitting next to Sasuke during his break, slurping loudly on his bowl of soup.

He never sat _right _next to Sasuke, but instead always left one seat open in between them. But still, it was an encroachment on personal space, especially since the idiot _always_ insisted on giving him an upbeat greeting.

Every. Single. Day.

Sasuke never once returned the greeting with anything more than the occasional "hn", but that seemed to be enough to satisfy the blonde. Before long he would be too absorbed in slurping his noodles to give any more attention to conversation, but after his meal he would always set his chopsticks down with a happy sigh, turning to Sasuke once more to give a parting remark and skip back to wherever he came from.

And this day was no different.

"Well hi! Fancy meeting you here!" came the expected greeting, and Sasuke looked up from over his book, giving a glare and a light 'hn' of response. The kid said this _every day_. He seemed to think it was clever. As if every day it was a fucking _surprise_ to see Sasuke, even though he had been there every single day at the same time for _weeks_. Thankfully, the blonde never seemed to expect a response, and as soon as his noodles were presented to him he would dig in and shut up.

Today, however, blonde's ramen seemed to be taking extra long, and the kid seemed to deem it acceptable to make conversation.

"You're always reading books." He commented, and Sasuke deadpanned. Was that really the best this idiot could come up with for a topic of conversation?

"Hn." He responded. He didn't like his precious break reading time being interrupted.

"Can't you say anything other that – Oh! My ramen! Thank you thank you thank you!"

And with that the blonde was silenced. Well at least he wasn't _talking_ anymore. But his loud slurping was certainly less than quiet. At least the kid was a fast eater, so the messy eating habits only lasted for a very short while. Sasuke could have gone back to reading his book, but he found himself unable to look away from the spectacle that the blonde made of himself. His observation was discreet, as an Uchiha's _should_ be, but in the end it didn't really matter, because the noodle-slurping guy was too caught up in his meal to pay attention to the fact that he was being looked at.

It was a shame, really, that the kid was such a complete idiot, because he was actually a rather attractive individual, once you got rid of all of his annoying mannerisms and that shit eating grin. His appearance was a striking counterpoint to Sasuke's own – where Sasuke's hair was dark, this boy's was light golden, where Sasuke's eyes were the darkest grey, the other's were a bright sky blue, and while Sasuke's skin held a pale radiance, this guy's had a healthy tanned glow – but in his own unique way he was good looking.

Not as good looking as himself, Sasuke reminded himself, puffing up his ego. But still attractive. Until he opened that loud mouth of his and started babbling, or stuffing it with noodles.

Looking closer, Sasuke had just managed to pick out faint scratches on the blonde's cheeks (scars, maybe? How… common. And yet still rather interesting.) but before he could investigate any further the kid was pushing his bowl away with a happy sigh, blue eyes squinting happily, like a pleased cat. He looked over to Sasuke, who quickly schooled his features into a glare before lowering his gaze back to his book, which was still held open on the counter in front of him.

"Hmm." The blonde hummed. "You shouldn't frown so much, it'll end up sticking like that."

Sasuke flicked his eyes up for a second to reinforce his glare before looking back to his book with a huff.

"Che, just sayin', bastard." Came the continued annoyance. "If you pulled that sick outta yer ass, people might like you better. S'not like you're terrible to look at, you just seem _mean_, is all."

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Sasuke muttered, not looking up from his pages. Out of his peripheral vision he could see the blonde's face light up in surprise, since it was the most Sasuke had ever said to him, but before he could comment he apparently realized the truth in the dark haired boy's words.

"Oh crap, you're right!" he gasped, pushing back from the counter, jumping off of his stool and rushing off. Sasuke watched him grab a tie out of his back pocket, sloppily pulling it on as he crashed back to his workstation.

'_Hn,' _Sasuke thought_ 'With those kinds of job ethics it's no wonder he hasn't been able to aspire to anything higher than bag boy.'_

And with that last, scathing thought about the random blonde who insisted on interrupting his break every single day, Sasuke went back to his own job.

…which wasn't much of much higher ranking in the job opportunity food chain of life, but it _was_ better, thank you very much.

**-o-**

Naruto didn't understand how people could be so downright _irritable _all the time!

Every day he sat by Mr. Grouchy Pants at the ramen stand, and every day he was nice, and _every day_ the guy was an outright jerk to him!

Naruto didn't see what he was possibly interrupting, the guy never really read his book anyways. Maybe he wanted to _look_ like he was reading, but more often than not he wouldn't flip a single page, at least as long as Naruto was there. He thought he was so sneaky, but Naruto always saw him peering disapprovingly at him out of the corner of his eye, rather than reading the words on the page of his book.

Inwardly, Naruto would have liked to think that it was his good looks and charming nature that had the guy so fixated on him, but he could tell that the dark haired male was irritated with him from his only-slightly-less-than-hostile looks that he always sent Naruto's way. What had he ever done to that ice princess anyways, besides try and strike up a friendly conversation!

And today was the first day that the bastard had said more than an annoying 'hn' to him, and it had only been to hint at him to get out of there! Which, granted, ended up being a good thing, because otherwise Naruto would have been late getting back to work, but still! It was the principle of the thing!

Huffing indignantly to himself, Naruto pulled a plastic bag off of the hooks, packaging a customer's groceries.

"Well, well, well. Look who it is."

Looking up, Naruto was met with the sight of the last two people he wanted while he was working as a _bag boy_. How humiliating!

"Hi Sakura… Ino." He reluctantly greeted with a sheepish grin. "Fancy meeting you here."

Great. Juuuuust great. Sakura and Ino were the two most popular girls in town, and now that they knew he worked as a bag boy, he'd never hear the end of it. By the calculating looks on their faces, they found the situation highly amusing and were already plotting out how to best ruin his life with this newfound information.

"Fancy it indeed." Ino giggled, nudging her pink haired friend. Sakura held back a snicker, clearing her throat and smiling sweetly at Naruto.

"So Naruto, I'm curious… is this just part time, or what? Because I just _know_ it's not that 'totally kickass' job you were bragging about landing a few months back."

"Oh." Naruto replied, fighting off the flush that threatened to rise to his cheeks. "Yeah, of course, this is just… part time."

Naruto clearly remembered the day he had bragged about having a "totally kickass job" to his classmates… it had, in fact, been an attempt at impressing Sakura. Growing up, he'd always had a bit of a thing for her, even after numerous, very blunt rejections. Over the years his enthusiasm for perusing the matter had dwindled, but old habits die hard and every once in a while he found his mouth running off in front of her in a vain attempt at getting some attention and admiration.

"Right." Ino disbelievingly replied, before turning back to Sakura and completely ignoring him. "So are you gonna go to Neji's party tonight?"

"Oooh, that's tonight?" Sakura excitedly replied. "I almost forgot! But Neji almost never throws parties, what's the occasion?"

"I don't know, but have you _seen_ his house?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, shoving groceries in their bags and setting them aside as the girls continued gossiping.

"Oh, and did you _hear_?" Sakura was gushing in a half-whisper.

"Hear what?" Ino eagerly replied, and it all sounded so scandalous that Naruto couldn't help eavesdropping.

"Well that _Sasuke's_ going to be there!"

"No!"

"Yes! You know Neji, Sasuke's like the only person he'll consider worthy enough to hang around, they're both so high up and all that. So I don't know why Neji's throwing a party, but every time he's ever had one he makes sure that Sasuke is there, so that he'll have someone he wants to hang around with!"

Naruto had never known Neji too well, and had only ever heard reverent whispers of who Sasuke was from the girls, but he didn't have a very positive opinion of either of them. They sounded like snobby, stuck up elitists to him, and frankly Naruto couldn't see why anyone would want to spend time around them.

But… this party. It had been a while since Naruto had crashed one, and this sounded promising. A big shebang, as it were. Hmmm… he was going to have to figure out how to get in on this. Maybe he still had a chance at impressing Sakura, if he could get in to this party, and if not there would still undoubtedly be plenty of people to see, food to eat, and fun to be had!

Placing the last grocery item in the girls's bags, Naruto brightly handed them over, grinning in a fetching manner. "Here you go!"

Suspicious of his suddenly chipper mood, Sakura and Ino sent him skeptical looks before taking their groceries and heading off, no doubt to go get ready for the party.

"Don't you ever wish," Naruto heard Ino saying to Sakura as they left. "That we knew where _Sasuke_ worked, so that we could drop in and see _him_?"

"Maybe we could ask him tonight?"

"Oh, good idea!"

Naruto stopped listening at that point, and checked his watch. He got off work in a few hours… at which point in time it looked like he would have a few calls to make.

**-o-**

**...x.x.x.x.x.xx.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x..x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x…**

**-o-**

Uh oh, Naruto! What are you planning! XD

Haha, so yeah, here's the first chapter of this little fic, and I hope everyone liked it! I'm really having a fun time writing it!

Seeya next chapter! 8D


	2. It's Party Time!

**.o.O.o.**

I own nothing! Please don't sue me!

For additional warnings, disclaimers, and summary, see the first chapter!

**.x.x.x.**

**-o-**

"Sooooo, lemme get this straight." Came the voice from the other end of Naruto's phone. "You wanna crash _Neji's_ party. Tonight. With no prior planning."

"Yeah." Naruto replied, grinning even though he knew it wouldn't be visible through the phone line. "That's about the long and short of it."

A long sigh came from the other end. "Look, man, you know I want in on this too, but… do you have ANY idea how hard it'll be to pull off? That guy's like… _loaded_. He's not gonna let just _anyone_ in to his fancy little house party."

"Kiba, Kiba, Kiba…" Naruto replied, shaking his head with a smile. "Do you really have this little faith in me?"

"Uh, yeah." Came the response. "Pretty much. Do you remember what happened the _last_ time we tried to gate crash?"

"Hey!" Naruto indignantly replied. "How was I supposed to know they had a dog?"

"Oh no no." Kiba corrected him. "That was no dog. I'm _good_ with dogs. I _like_ dogs. _That_ was a _demon_."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Just trust me, okay? Be here in like half an hour, okay?" And without even waiting for a reply, he hung up.

Currently at home, Naruto was sitting in the middle of an _explosion_ of clothes in the middle of his bedroom, having emptied the contents of his dresser and closet in an effort to find something adequate to wear to the party. Most of his clothing was of bright, obnoxiously bold colouring, and he was having a bit of a time finding something that would be a little less obvious, so that he wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb at a party that he, technically speaking, wasn't even supposed to be at in the first place.

Picking up a shirt that looked like it might work, he tossed it into the "to consider" pile and dialed the next number that he needed to call in order to make sure that the night's arrangements went according to plan.

One ring… two rings… Naruto started getting a little nervous, hoping that he wasn't calling at a bad time… three rings… four rings… it wasn't like he wasn't allowed to call, but he sometimes worried, seeing as how this particular friend was a little…

"Hello Naruto."

"Crap!"

'_Oh good going!'_ Naruto mentally chastised. _'Very smooth!'_

"…"

"I mean, uh, hi Gaara!" Naruto brightly covered. "How're you tonight?"

"What do you want, Naruto?"

"Awww, now what makes you say that?" Naruto nervously replied, laughing shakily. He and Gaara had a very… _interesting_ relationship. The aloof, intimidating redhead had some sort of vague allowance of Naruto (which was about as close to friendship as anyone was allowed to get) and Naruto was one of the few people to genuinely appreciate Gaara as a person rather than an unapproachable entity, but…

Well it didn't mean that Naruto was immune to the somewhat threatening aura that Gaara seemed to so effortlessly radiate!

"I just know." Came the reply.

Dammit, the redhead was _good_! Naruto might as well own up, seeing as there was no need to keep beating around the bush. "Well alright, ya caught me. But hear me out, okay?"

"…"

Taking the silence as his cue to keep talking, Naruto continued. "So there's this party tonight, and –"

"Goodnight, Naruto."

"No wait!" the blonde hastily pleased. "Come on, just listen, okay? It's _Neji's_ party."

"… oh?"

YES! Gaara's curiosity was piqued! Naruto had the fish on the hook, now all he had to do was _carefully_ reel it in. It was a well known fact to Naruto and Naruto alone that Gaara had… well he'd kill anyone who would dare call it a _crush_, but he had some sort of _thing_ for Neji.

Naruto had accidentally found out when he'd seen the way Gaara's haunted eyes followed the sleek form of Neji around a room and had thus decided to tease his stoic friend about it. He hadn't been able to breath properly for about a week afterwards due to a bruised rib, but it had been worth it. He had _inside information_ on the redhead, and surprisingly enough, that had sparked a trend of lessened hostility on Gaara's end, as he accepted Naruto's promise to keep it secret. Or else.

They weren't exactly friends, but they had some kind of weird understanding.

"So yeah, I was thiiinking…" Naruto sing-songed. "You could totally get us in, right?"

"… why should I?"

Now _there_ was the fiery Gaara spirit that Naruto was so good at diffusing!

"Well because Gaaaaaara!" he teased. "Don't you think that there's a little something in this for you? Hmm? Like maybe a chance to catch a certain, long haired, mysterious eyed –"

"Neji didn't _invite_ us." Gaara was quick to point out, and Naruto could picture him frowning in agitation. "If he sees us –"

"But it's a _party_!" Naruto pointed out, waving his arms for emphasis even though Gaara couldn't see it. "No one keeps tabs on who is or isn't supposed to be there!"

"I think that at this kind of party they _will_, Naruto. Neji is very… exclusive. I am surprised to hear he's having any kind of event at all."

Naruto sighed exaggeratedly, tossing aside a pair of pants to consider. "Look, no one's gonna question _you_." He pointed out, laying it on thick. "So I can get in with you, and then I've got Kiba to vouch for me inside, so you're free to –"

"Kiba."

"Yes, Kiba. So like I was saying, once I'm in, you're free to go scrounge around for –"

"Do you really think that Kiba is going to be enough to –" Gaara asked, skepticism evident in his voice.

Naruto scowled. "Look, I know that plan's not foolproof, but it's the best I got, okay!"

"…"

"… Gaara?"

"You realize that if this ruins any of my own aspirations, that I will place the blame entirely on you?"

Naruto pumped a fist in triumph. "YES! Alright! Thanks Gaara, I promise you won't regret it!"

"Hm. I better not."

"Can you be over here in like a few minutes?"

"… fine."

"Thank you!" Naruto cheered, glowing, but was greeted only by a dial tone, as Gaara had hung up immediately after agreeing to come.

His phone calls made, Naruto hastily picked out the best outfit he could manage, throwing clothes on and rushing to the bathroom to make some semblance of an attempt at fixing his appearance. Sighing as blonde tufts refused to be tamed, Naruto gave up. Oh well, he certainly wouldn't want to look like he was trying too hard, anyways.

Not a minute later the doorbell rang, and Naruto rushed to answer it, only to find both Kiba and Gaara standing there together, looking rather disgruntled and uncomfortable with being in such close proximity to eachother.

"Hey guys!" Naruto greeted, attempting to diffuse the situation. "You ready to go?"

Kiba awkwardly shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Dude, why… what did you call Gaara here for?" he guardedly asked. He received a glare from the redhead for speaking as though he wasn't standing right next to him.

"He wanted to go." Naruto covered, but Kiba gave him a disbelieving look so he was forced to get a little more truthful. "Okay, so he's also kinda my in. I figured you'd wanna get in on your own, but then you know we could meet up and –"

"Dude, what the hell, Naruto" Kiba growled, and Gaara looked bored with the petty arguing. "Why am I risking my ass to crash a party for you when you already have an in, and if I get caught it could ruin all future chances?"

"No, dude, Kiba, I NEED you there!" Naruto implored him, panicking. "You go to like every party _ever_, right?"

"Well yeah, but I'm never _invited_ –"

"Okay, well that doesn't matter! Everyone always sees you there and never has a problem with it, so you're like an established honourary member of the party scene! I need you there so you can vouch for me, yeah?"

Kiba didn't look convinced. "How come Gaara can't, he's your in, isn't he?"

"He can't." Naruto quickly supplied. "He's gonna have his own deal that he's working on."

Kiba screwed his face up in skeptical confusion. "What the hell is _that_ supposed to mean?"

Obviously Naruto was letting on a little more than Gaara cared for, because he sent a steely look to the blonde. "Uh, it doesn't matter." Naruto quickly replied, brushing the subject aside. "The point is, you gotta be like 'Oh hey Naruto, you made it, blah blah blah.' when you see me, okay?"

The brunet sighed. "Okay, fine. But if you get us both thrown out on our asses and ruin any future chances I might have had at getting into some epic parties, I'm gonna kick your ass."

Naruto grinned, reaching out and enthusiastically shaking one of Kiba's hands in both of his. "You've got a deal!"

**-o-**

Sasuke hated parties.

He tried to make a habit of _not_ attending them, in fact, but there was only so much that he could do when it was _Neji's_ party.

They weren't exactly _friend_, Sasuke and Neji, but they had know eachother growing up, seeing as their families were two of the more prestigious in the area. So they had gone to the same little dinner parties, same boring charity functions, and the same dull community functions, and like brave little soldiers in the same war trench they had clung to eachother out of the knowledge that they both shared the common belief that all of these stupid, boring things were complete and utter bullshit.

Oh they _liked_ being well off, yes, but the way their families treated it, as if it was some God Given Gift that was a True And Holy Sign that they were meant to be snooty and elite to all of those lower class plebeians, those poor common folks with half a brain and not even two nickels to rub together… well that was just ridiculous.

So as much as they liked having nice things, and as great as it was to not have to worry about how they were going to pay for food, shelter, school, that little getaway in the tropics, etc., Sasuke and Neji had never liked the way their parents flaunted it around, as if they were better than everyone else. They had formed a little alliance, then, and while their families thought it was just oh-so-cute that they had made little friends, Sasuke and Neji knew better. It hadn't been about _friendship_, it had been about _survival_ in those dull, hoity-toity times.

And so every so often nowadays, Neji would get in it his head that he wanted to throw a party. Not because he felt like getting together and socializing and having fun with his peers, but because he was feeling particularly bitter towards his parents about something and decided that some wasting of their Holier Than Thou money was in order. This time, the cause for "celebration" was that they had – yet again – tried to marry him off without his approval, or in fact _knowledge_.

Neji's house was very nice, very big, and very all his to do whatever he wanted with it. This made for a perfect setup for parties, it was just too bad that Neji didn't much care for them. But when he _did_ have them he went all out, and it was a very exciting thing to be invited. Because yes, he had an invite list. It wasn't extremely exclusive, seeing as there still had to be enough people to make a mess and irritate his parents when he used their money to call for a cleanup service, but he certainly didn't want just anyone coming by, because then there was bound to be trouble when everyone and their brother, mother, and dog came by.

Sasuke was always at the very top of the list. Ironic that Neji would create something that was to him as empty and boring as the functions he had been so loathed being dragged to as a child, but it was some sort of payback, Sasuke supposed, wherein Neji felt like he needed to get back some control over the stupid, boring, social expectancies of his life. But he still clung to Sasuke like a drowning man to a lifesaver ring (although he would _never_ put it in such desperate terms. Even if it _was_ true.) and as such, Sasuke was expected to be at every one of his few-and-far-between parties, to provide some sanity amongst the chaos.

Sighing to himself as he walked the darkening streets, Sasuke wondered what the night had in store for him. He'd had an offer to get picked up and driven to Neji's, but he much preferred having the few extra minutes of walking to enjoy his last remaining moments of calm before the storm.

As he got closer to Neji's house, more and more people were milling around, making their way to the same place, so Sasuke slipped his sunglasses on and pulled up the hood of his sweatshirt, so that none of the girls would be able to quickly recognize him and come rushing up to him with their annoyingly high pitched voices and bright, eager eyes.

'_Oh Sasuke you made it, I'm so glad! Would you like to dance? Do you want a drink? Are you having fun? Oh Sasuke you're just so handsome, please marry me and live happily ever after in a quaint little house with a white picket fence and 2.5 kids and a dog!'_

Urgh. So annoying.

Pushing through the crowds and loud music, Sasuke made his way into Neji's house, heading straight for the long haired boy's room, where he knew he would find the host of the party, hoarded up and brooding.

Sure enough, as Sasuke pulled the door open, there sitting at his desk and flipping through some magazine or journal was Neji – looking for all he was worth like he was just having a quiet night at home and that there most certainly _wasn't_ a loud, exciting event getting underway right downstairs.

"You can't just hide yourself away all night, you know."

Neji turned, sending back an unamused glare with those freakily blank eyes of his. "I'm completely aware of that, thank you."

Sasuke rolled his eyes, taking of his sunglasses and jacket and setting them on the corner of Neji's desk. "Well I'm here now, ready to serve as your precious little stronghold of defense against the sheer idiocy that tonight will most certainly entail, so we might as well go give the people what they want."

"Che, a glimpse of us so that they can feel special and important and included in something that the prestigious Uchiha and Hyuga have set up?"

"Hn. Something like that."

And so with a twisted, bitter smile, Neji stood and led the way downstairs.

Predictably, at the appearance of both Neji and Sasuke entering the room _together_, an excited bout of whispering and pointing broke out. Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes. A few people, mostly troublesome boys who thought themselves to be real hot shit, broke away from the crowd to give a boisterous _'hey man, thanks for inviting us! Great party!'_ and an accompanying pound on the back to Neji, who looked bothered as usual, but was considerate enough to at least vaguely acknowledge them.

Sasuke, however, was for the most part left alone at Neji's side. People eyed him or occasionally gave a quick nod in greeting, but otherwise left him alone, and _certainly_ did not think to touch him. Where Neji always appeared detached but vaguely approachable, Sasuke radiated an air of "touch me and die" which was thankfully enough of a deterrence that he never actually had to follow through on that ominous promise.

Bored, Sasuke followed Neji out to the backyard, where some horribly loud and irritating music was playing, but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves to a disgusting degree. Although that could have just been the alcohol, Sasuke noted, spotting a keg propped up in the corner.

Everyone looked the same to him – the girls with their cute little outfits that showed way too much skin, and the guys who must have really thought they had game, who were trying to hook up with aforementioned girls. Everyone was talking about school or sports or gossip or sex or television… and it was all just so _typical_ that Sasuke couldn't help but let a quiet scoff escape.

Neji apparently heard, because he turned to look at the dark haired boy beside him with an amused expression, as if enjoying Sasuke's distaste at the surroundings. Which made him a hypocritical ass, Sasuke though, because he knew Neji was just as ruffled over the utter stereotypity as he was.

And then Sasuke was faced with something even worse than cliché parties, when the two people he least wanted to see cornered him like enthusiastically rabid rabbits.

"Sasuke!"

"Oh Sasuke, you made it!"

Everything in Sasuke's immediate line of sight was suddenly overtaken by too much bare skin and too-bright smiles as Sakura and Ino planted themselves firmly in front of him, demanding attention. Sakura's wide, imploring green eyes somehow managed to stand out even more than her bubblegum pink tresses, and Ino flickered her lashes and flipped a lock of sleek blonde hair over her shoulder in what she obviously thought was a cute and flirtations manner.

"Hn." He muttered, by way of greeting.

"So _Sa-su-ke_, are you having a great time?" Sakura inquired, leaning forward with a sparkling smile. He _hated_ the way that she insisted on pronouncing every last syllable of his name, as if attempting to prove that she knew it.

"Oh I bet you are, Neji always throws such amazing parties, and you two are like best friends!" Ino put in, also trying in some twisted way to prove that she really had the inside scoop on who Sasuke was.

Sasuke, for his part, wasn't even listening. Instead he was playing a very fun game in his head called "make scathing judgments about other people". It was a game he played very often, and rather enjoyed. Currently, he was inwardly sneering at how small Sakura's skirt and top were, and how all it did was make her look desperate. He also noted, with a bit of disgust, that with how tight and low cut Ino's pants were, there was no way that she was wearing underwear.

It wasn't to say that Sakura and Ino were skanks, not necessarily. That just tried way too hard.

"Oh Sasuke, I was thinking, after this there's this great new club in town, and me and Ino were thinking of stopping by, and we were just wondering –"

"If maybe you wanted to join us? It'll be a lot of fun!"

He had to keep himself from smirking at the two of them, because as much as they were a team, they sure did compete against eachother, cutting one another off and trying to show the other up. It was actually pretty amusing, but he had better things to be doing. Well no, that wasn't true, but he would rather be wandering around aimlessly with Neji than…

Fuck, where did Neji go?

Panic rising up inside of him as he realized that he was cornered by the lionesses on a kill with no Neji buffer to but between himself and them, Sasuke desperately began searching the crowd for any sign of the other boy. Eyes flicking from person to person, his search became increasingly desperate as he looked though one party attendant after another, and none of them was who he was looking out for.

'_Not Neji, not Neji, not Neji, not Neji, Ne…? Nope. Not Neji, not Neji, not Neji…who the hell is that?'_

Sasuke's eyes landed on a bright patch of blonde pushing through the crowd, and as he looked closer he found that the outfit adorned by the individual was rather sloppily executed, and way too loud to be… well, _allowed_. And there was something very familiar about the way he was jumping around, being obnoxious and invasive and…

Eyes widening as comprehension dawned upon him as to whom he was seeing, Sasuke muttered a dismissing 'excuse me' to the girls before brushing aside and making a beeline for a certain someone who he was pretty sure wasn't supposed to be here.

**-o-**

Naruto _loved_ parties. Unfortunately, he was barely ever invited to any, so most of the time he had to sneak his way into them.

Oh, of course there were the open house parties, where anyone could get in, but the really _good_ ones… those were the ones with an invite list that Naruto was never on. So he'd learned, though trial and error, how to get in, and how to _stay_ in. It was usually pretty easy in theory – a side door, or a backyard wall to climb over – because there was never _actually_ someone standing around with a sheet of paper to check names off of, but everyone seemed to have an idea of who was and wasn't supposed to be there, so Naruto had been quick to learn that the lesson of acting like he fitted in, or run the risk of getting thrown out.

Tonight was no different. His plan at getting in to the exclusive "Neji event" had been hastily concocted, and would probably not be executed as perfectly as he would have liked, but he was pretty sure that it would at least get him in, and that from there he could just improvise. After all, that was something that he was very good at.

Kiba tended to like getting himself into parties on his own, especially after that incident with the guard dog (which Naruto DEFINITELY hadn't known about, therefore hadn't been able to plan for, as much as Kiba liked to place all the blame for that little incident on him.) So Naruto stuck close to Gaara's side, knowing that no one would bother to question the intimidating redhead. Gaara was – like Neji and apparently this Sasuke guy, whoever that was – of one of the more prestigious families in the area, and as such commanded respect. But along with that, the redhead was known for being extremely sharp-tempered, easy to irritate, difficult to befriend or even get into the "tolerable zone" of, and there were numerous, violent rumours about deeds he may or may not have done to people who had crossed him in the past.

So Naruto was sure that no one would question his presence, as long as stuck by Gaara's side long enough to get in to the party. Once in, he was sure that the his glowering friend would want to wander off to do… well whatever it was that Gaara did, but that wouldn't be a problem, because _arriving_ at the party, walking in and making an announcement out of yourself just by showing up – _that_ was the biggest hurdle to jump, but once that was accomplished Naruto knew he'd be fine on his own.

Just as planned, people gave the both of them inquiring looks as they came up to the house and walked in the door, but no one questioned it. Naruto inwardly cheered as they crossed the threshold, walked right on in, and besides from the initial glances to see who had arrived, were seamlessly accepted into the party.

Good thing too, because the moment they had gotten through the house and out into the back yard, Gaara had immediately taken off, leaving Naruto to his own devices. Which was just as well, because Naruto hadn't intended on having a blast with the guy anyways, and besides – he'd just spotted Kiba at the far end of the yard.

"Yeah, I'm pretty good with animals…" the brunet was saying in his casual, 'I'm being modest about something totally impressive' voice. Naruto grinned and rolled his eyes as he wandered up to his friend, who as it turned out was talking to someone that they he also knew.

"Hey guys, how's it hanging?"

"Oh! H-hello Naruto. How a-are you tonight?"

Naruto winked at the stuttering girl before him. "Oh, pretty good Hinata, how about you?"

"Oh, I'm f-fine. Just talking to K-Kiba."

"Ooooh?" Naruto mischievously inquired, feigning surprise as he turned to his buddy. "Well well, Kiba, I wasn't aware that you two were acquainted!"

"Well we _are_." Kiba ground out, looking slightly agitated at Naruto's brash attempt at barging in on the conversation he'd been having with Hinata.

"Well fancy that!" Naruto grinned, before turning back to the dark haired girl. "If the lady will excuse us, I must borrow this strapping young lad for a moment, but rest assured that I will – ack! Kiba!"

Pulled into a headlock and led away as Kiba gave some hasty apologies and promises of return to Hinata, Naruto struggled to get away from his friend's grasp. Eventually, once they were far enough away, Kiba let him go, fixing him with a frown.

"What the hell are you doing, man? You're totally embarrassing me in front of her, is this some kind of a cock-block or something? Cause I swear to God, Naruto, if you –"

"_Relax_, man!" Naruto grinned, punching his friend in the shoulder. "I'm not trying to scam on Hinata! She's a cute girl and all, sweet and crap, but she's all yours, promise. But come on, aren't ya happy to see me!"

Kiba rolled his eyes and couldn't help but grin. "Yeah yeah, I'm glad to see ya. So you made it in okay?"

"Sure did!" Naruto replied, puffing out his chest proudly. "Everyone figured Mr. Hot Stuff Gaara must have gotten like a _personal_ invite, cause I mean you know how he _never_ shows up at these things, so they didn't really bother with me."

"Well maybe if you didn't spend so much time making a name for yourself as the worst troublemaker in the state, you could be the one getting your _own_ invites, you know?"

"Hey!" Naruto indignantly replied, placing a hands to his chest in mock offense. "It's a full time job and _somebody's_ gotta do it! And at least I'm on top, right?"

"Right." Kiba snorted, laughing. "Now can I please get back to what I was doing?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to scoff. "What, picking up on Hinata? Dude, she's like… Neji's _cousin_. That's like family. You better watch your step, man!"

Kiba waved it off with a flip of the hand. "Relax, man, I'm just being a nice guy." Here Naruto had to try very hard to conceal a burst of laughter as a cough. "And _besides_, she's here on her own and at least I've got a _little_ restraint, unlike some of the other horndogs that've shown up tonight. I'll just play it cool and keep her safe and sound away from the greedy hands of these other fuckers, and then maybe – "

"Okay, okay, whatever." Naruto laughed. "Go have fun. I'm gonna try and find something to eat."

And with that, Naruto nudged his friend back to where he had stolen him from, and headed off in the direction of food, pushing his way through the crowd.

**-o-**

Sasuke slipped easily through the crowd, years of practice of moving through large social events aiding him well, in addition to the fact that people seemed to part like water before him upon spying who it was trying to move past them.

Quickly and efficiently tracking down his loud, obnoxious prey, Sasuke reached out a hand, grabbing the blonde by the shoulder. Tugging none too gently, the dark haired boy pulled him around, and the kid had the nerve to look agitated for a brief second before he saw who it was that had yanked at him, and his expression turned into one of confused surprise.

"Well fancy meeting you here, bastard!" the blonde greeted with a grin. "I wouldn't have thought you'd be the type to go to these kinds of parties!"

Sasuke met the flashing grin with an even glare. "And I wouldn't have thought you'd be the type who would be _invited_ to these kinds of parties."

Well _that_ certainly seemed to make that irritating grin falter a bit. Hn, so Sasuke had been right then – this punk kid _hadn't_ gotten an invite, the little annoyance had probably snuck his way in, or gotten someone to cover for him.

"Saaasukeee!"

"Sasuke, where'd you goooo?"

Keeping his firm grip on the blonde so that he couldn't run off, Sasuke snapped his head around to see that Sakura and Ino were searching through the crowd for him, pouting over the fact that he had just up and left.

"Wait…" shorter male began, looking confusedly curious. "_You're_ Sasu–"

"Shit." the dark haired boy cursed as the girls drew nearer, before turning his attention back to his captive little party-sneaker-into-er. "You. Come with me."

Sasuke grabbed the blonde's wrist and dragged him across the yard, through the house, and out through a side door that led to a dark patio that no one had apparently discovered in their eagerness to take part in the action that was going on in the main rooms and backyard.

"Let go of me, bastard." The blonde demanded, indignantly pulling his wrist out of Sasuke's grip the moment they were clear of the crowds. "What the hell, man? You don't just go grabbing people and dragging them all over the place. If you wanted to talk you could have just _asked_, asshole."

Glaring, Sasuke did his best to get a good look at the person standing before him, as it was very dark. This was no doubt the same kid from the mall, evidenced by the bright hair, loud attitude, and the fact that he apparently recognized Sasuke as well. But for all he was worth Sasuke wouldn't figure out how the kid had gotten in. Granted there was no tightly guarded security, but the blonde was so out of place that it was a wonder he hadn't been spotted as a party crasher the moment he had stepped across the threshold.

"Hey bastard, why did you drag me all the way out here if you're not even gonna talk, huh? And what's the rush all about? Jeeze…"

"I had to _rush_," Sasuke began through gritted teeth. "Because those meddling little girls were about to find me."

At this the blonde's eyes widened. "Wait, so you _are_ the Sasuke that Ino and Sakura are always babbling about! Psssht, do they know that you've got a ten foot pole stuck up your ass or –"

"Shut _up_ already." Sasuke cut in, rubbing his temples. "Just… how did you get in here, anyways? Who the hell are you? All I know is that you're the bag boy who annoys me on my lunch break every day –"

"Wait, you work at the Ramen stand? Can you get me _discounts_?"

" – and I _highly _doubt that shoving groceries in a flimsy plastic bag is enough to warrant and invite to Neji's parties."

"My name is _Naruto_, asshole, and I work hard at my job, I'll have you know!" the blonde snapped, flushing in either anger or embarrassment, Sasuke couldn't tell. "And… and I _did_ get in legitimately… I came here with Gaara!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion at the last part. This… Naruto kid had just made a pretty bold declaration, whether he knew it or not. Sasuke hadn't seen Gaara that evening, but of the blonde was saying that they had come together he was either full of shit (and all it would take to prove that would be a quick inquiry of the redhead, and while Sasuke was not on very friendly terms with the redhead, they had minimal contact through Neji, who knew Gaara through some social function or another) or he actually _did_ know Gaara. In which case, maybe this punk _did_ have some kind of 'in' to the party? Hmm, Sasuke still found that rather hard to believe.

"Look, ask him yourself if it's such a big deal." Naruto irritatedly told Sasuke, but he seemed a bit nervous about the prospect, so Sasuke decided to prod a bit more.

"You asked to come with him so that no one would question your presence here, didn't you?" he asked, hazarding a guess. And by the look on this Naruto character's face, he had hit the mark.

Naruto's jaw dropped at Sasuke's question. _Shit_, this guy _knew_. Naruto didn't know how or why, but he _did_ know that he was probably about to get in a whole lot of trouble unless he could manage to think on his toes and worm his way out of the situation. He just needed some kind of clever excuse, or justification, or…

… blackmail.

A slow smirk crawled over Naruto's face, and Sasuke's eyes narrowed in response. Inwardly, Naruto swelled with accomplishment, because it was now the bastard Uchiha who looked on guard. Ha! How did he like _them_ apples?

"Okay, you caught me." Naruto easily replied with a shrug, and although he didn't show it, Naruto could tell that Sasuke was surprised that the truth had been given up so easily. "So I guess I'll just leave. But on my way out I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell Sakura and Ino where their precious Sasuke works!"

Naruto actually had to hold back a burst of laughter at the resulting expression that the innocently posed comment got out of Sasuke. Bull's eye!

"So that's how it is?" Sasuke replied, steely eyes narrowed. It occurred to Naruto then that this guy might have been a bastard, but he was sharp as a tack, and from the daggers that he was currently shooting Naruto via his glare, the blonde figured that maybe taunting Sasuke wasn't the best idea he could have come up with…

But a second later Sasuke's cool and collected façade was right back in place, and he was giving Naruto a completely unreadable expression.

"Alright then." He said. "I'll meet your terms. I won't throw your sorry ass to the curb, but you had better stay out of my way, and if those girls find me at work I _will_ be out for your blood. And don't think for one second that I won't be asking Gaara is he knows an obnoxious, loudmouth blonde."

And with that the dark haired male turned on his heel and left, leaving Naruto angry, confused, and more than just a little bit intrigued by this Sasuke character…

**-o-**

**...x.x.x.x.x.xx.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x..x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x…**

**-o-**

Whooooooo, here's the second chapter! 8D Is anybody even reading this? Hahaha, everyone whores themselves out to review for my KH fics, but half of the reviews for this were by my friends, because I made them do it. XD

Well anyways, I do hope that if anyone's reading it that they're enjoying it, reviews or no! I'm having fun with the writing, and I like sharing with you guys!

Dunno when the next chapter will be out, but until then… I dunno, have a nice life or something! X3


	3. IN CONCLUSION

**.o.O.o.**

I own nothing! Please don't sue me!

For additional warnings, disclaimers, and summary, see the first chapter!

**.x.x.x.**

**-o-**

Sasuke enjoyed Neji's party even less than usual that night. Sakura and Ino were hounding him the whole time, and even though he knew Neji's house and all of it's best places for keeping away from prying eyes extremely well, it seemed as though they had some sort of _radar_ for him with the way that they would keep cropping up right beside him with no warning.

He hadn't been able to find Gaara that evening to inquire about whether or not the guy had an obnoxious, loudmouth acquaintance that he had let in to the event, but it seemed as though Naruto knew Sakura and Ino as well, because although they looked annoyed every time he would attempt to make conversation with them, they didn't look confused about who he was.

Although he initially tried to deny it, Sasuke eventually couldn't help admitting to the fact that he watched Naruto like a hawk all evening, and not just out of waiting for him to slip up and get thrown out. He had never really seen the idiot outside of their coinciding lunch breaks, and it was… interesting to watch him interact in public.

Naruto didn't seem to be a bad guy, he was just… annoying. He was brash and full of laughter, and the complete opposite of everything that Sasuke strived to be. He also seemed to vie after Sakura's attention, which Sasuke couldn't for the life of him comprehend.

But it served to effectively distract the bubblegum-pink-headed girl from her search for him, and for that Sasuke was glad. Nothing about her or Ino had ever appealed to him, but his family had unfortunately been trying to set him up with one or the other for years now, saying that it would be an excellent match. Sasuke, however, had other ideas for his future – namely ones that didn't include a prearranged marriage to a girl who, frankly, annoyed the crap out of him.

Most girls did, in fact. Sasuke supposed that they might have been alright, if it hadn't been for all of the incessant chattering and clinging and fiddling with hair and makeup that they did. The only girl he had ever met that didn't do all of those things was Hinata, and she was Neji's cousin, so even if Sasuke _had_ been interested, she was definitely off limits.

"Hey Sakura! I – hey wait where are you going?"

Brought out of his thoughts by a name that set off alarms in his head, shouted by a voice that annoyed him to no end, Sasuke glanced down from his inconspicuous hideout of a third floor balcony. There was no way to get to it without going right through some of Neji's private rooms, and those were off limits to everyone but the Hyuga heir himself, and Sasuke. Sakura and Ino were still on the hunt it seemed, although he couldn't hear what they were saying – it was only that loudmouth Naruto's voice that carried all the way up to his hiding place.

With a sigh, Sasuke leaned back against the railing, hidden from view, and contented himself with bunking it out right where he currently was for the rest of the evening. He had brought some food and drinks up from the kitchen on his way to his hideout balcony, and grabbed a book from the library, so he was all set for a night of hiding away from the party. Picking up his book, Sasuke popped open a bottle of sparkling juice, and set about sipping and reading. It was actually rather nice, with the steady thrum of the music's bass serving as background noise, and Sasuke easily immersed himself in his reading.

That was, until someone came crashing through the balcony double-doors.

"Ow, holy shitballs, _OW_!"

Absolutely unable to _believe_ what a bitch fate was deciding to be to him that night, Sasuke glared at the idiot who had tumbled into his little sanctuary.

Still grumbling to himself, said intruder stood up, brushing himself off and muttering murderously. He glared at the French double-doors as if it was _their_ fault for opening up and dumping him to the ground when he had no doubt bashed into them all of his own devices. Sasuke wasn't sure how Naruto had managed to sneak his way into Neji's rooms and out to the balcony, but he was most certainly not pleased, and did not welcome the interruption.

However, it did allow for a highly ironic twist of situational arrangements, giving him a perfect in for that annoying line that the loudmouth was always so quick to blab out.

"Fancy meeting you here, idiot."

If it weren't for how disgruntled he was, Sasuke would have found it hilarious – the way Naruto nearly jumped right out of his skin at Sasuke's voice.

"Holy FUCK you bastard!" the blonde replied, rounding on Sasuke and clutching a hand over his heart in a show of surprise. "Don't just go sneaking up on people like that, yeah?"

Sasuke scoffed, pushing away from the balcony railing and striding over to Naruto. He knew his presence was intimidating, and the fact that he held about an inch's advantage in height over the blonde helped when he stopped right in front of Naruto, sizing him up. They stood like that for a minute, nearly nose to nose, before Sasuke spoke up again.

"You're not allowed to be here."

"Bull _shit_, I'm not!" Naruto indignantly shot back, cheeks flushed as he riled himself up. "I didn't see any signs telling me that I couldn't wander around upstairs! This is a house party, therefore I am allowed to explore the _house_!"

Narrowing his eyes as Naruto's idiotic gall, Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest, shifting his weight from one leg to another in a show of annoyance that could not be contained. He did not _fidget_, as such mannerisms were not in his purebred Uchiha blood, but there was nothing wrong with a little physical restlessness in the face of a frustrating problem.

"When you come across roped off wings, that means that it is a part of the house not meant to be accessed by just anyone, even during a house party. It's common knowledge… for people with more than half a brain, that is."

"HEY!" came the indignant response, and Sasuke was more than a little surprised that Naruto had even caught the insult. "I do so have more than half a brain, and at least I don't have a giant pole stuck up my ass! How did you even get it up that far, anyways?"

Glowering, Sasuke didn't dignify that with a response. They engaged in another heated staredown for a few minutes, before Naruto got frustrated, throwing his hands up in the air in a gesture of defeat.

"Okay, fine!" he said. "I give up. You're right, I'm probably not supposed to be here, but I just wanted to try and hang out with Sakura, and she was so busy looking for _your_ bastard ass that I just followed her around, but I guess I took a wrong turn after the last staircase or something."

"Hn. Or something." Sasuke returned, shaking his head and going back to the balcony ledge, sitting down against it and picking his book back up. This idiot really wasn't worth his time.

Naruto was a little confused by this change in attitude. He had figured that their stand-off wouldn't end until Sasuke had either shoved him by force back into the part of the house he was allowed to be in, or tossed him off the balcony. But the dark haired male was simply going back to hiding in the shadows in his little corner, attempting to finish his book.

"Hey what the hell?" Naruto asked, his tone carrying less of a tone of anger, and something more like genuine inquiry. "Aren't you going to throw me out?"

Sasuke glanced up from his book, looking bored. "And have you kick and scream the whole way, alerting everyone to what's going on and causing a scene? No thank you. Do whatever you want, I don't care."

Naruto stood where he was for a minute longer before nodding to himself as if making up his mind. Striding over to Sasuke's little corner he leaned back against the railing, sliding down into a cross-legged position beside the glowering brunet.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, and his voice sounded guarded, as if he suspected that Naruto was up to something.

The blonde shrugged. "Just sitting. You said I could do whatever I wanted, right?"

"… I would have thought you'd go away."

Naruto couldn't help but grin at that. "You wish, bastard. The party's getting boring with all of these yuppies that Neji invited, and Sakura won't pay any attention to me. Why do you hate her so much anyways?"

Sasuke sighed, annoyed at the ceaseless yammering. But if he ignored it he just knew that Naruto would only keep at it, getting louder and louder, until one or the other of them snapped and broke out into a fight… again.

"I don't hate her." He clarified. "It's just very annoying that she and her friend follow me around all of the time, giggling and trying to get me to talk to them. I'm not interested, but they won't leave me alone."

Furrowing his brows in confusion, Naruto tried to take this information in. Why would anyone not like Sakura? She was pretty and smart and… and pretty, and… well actually, she had never been especially nice to him and he new next to nothing about her, but the thrill of the chase kept Naruto striving after her out of habit, even though he had realized a long time ago that he stood no chance with her.

"Well if you don't want her attention, whose _do_ you want?" Naruto questioned, brows furrowed. "Because I hate to break it to ya, but you're not gonna get much of a chance to socialize with much of anyone hiding up here."

Sasuke scoffed at that. "I wouldn't bet on _that_, idiot. It seemed as though at least one pushy annoyance has bumbled their way to me, who's to say fate won't strike again?"

Rolling his eyes and snorting in amusement over Sasuke's jab, Naruto rested his head back against the balcony, looking up at the stars. "So what, you come to these fancy parties just to isolate yourself in your little hideout above all the 'little people'?"

"Essentially." Came the bored response.

"Well that's _lame_!" Naruto declared, leaning forward and budging even more into Sasuke's space, looking him over skeptically. "You're honestly telling me that you'd rather be all alone up here with your boring books and stuck-up attitude than down there with the food and music and chicks?"

"Yes." Sasuke answered, looking annoyed – as if there was possibly any other response that he was supposed to give besides an affirmative? "And if you're so interested in those things, why don't you go back to them? Really. You can leave anytime you want." _Please_, he added in his head.

Naruto folded his arms behind his head, laying out on his back, stretched out on the marble floor. He didn't look so bad like that, Sasuke thought, when he was in a relaxed position rather than wound so tight and ready to spring into action like he normally was.

"Eh, I don't think I will." The blonde answered. "Mainly I came here to impress Sakura and show her that I was good enough to get in, but she's too busy flitting around after YOU to pay any attention to me, and apparently Neji's parties aren't as crazy as most of the others I sneak – er, get invited to, so I can't get sloshed off my ass and go crazy down there in the yard. Everyone here's kind of a bunch of stuck up snobs and douchebags, no offense."

"Hn." Sasuke acknowledged in distaste. "What did you expect? Neji is rich and prestigious, and he invited others who are the same, or who have at least worked up a reputation for themselves."

"Hey!" Naruto indignantly snapped, sitting up. "I have a reputation!"

"Let me clarify – people who have worked towards a _positive_ reputation for themselves."

Grumbling but accepting that accusation, Naruto laid back down, closing his eyes. He really was an annoyance, but for the life of him Sasuke couldn't figure out why he had yet to force the loudmouth blonde away from the balcony, so that he could get back to reading in peace. Maybe it was the fact that he was different. Sasuke had never met anyone quite like Naruto, and he had to admit he was intrigued. What made this kid tick the way he did? And more importantly, how was it that even though the blonde got under his skin in the worst of ways, Sasuke was still compelled to let him stick around?

Deciding to ignore that for the time being, seeing as he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to that _particular_ self-questioning at the moment, Sasuke went back to pretending to read his book, all the while continuing to figure out this… _Naruto_ puzzle.

**-o-**

The next Monday, at his crappy little foodstand in the mall's food court that he took _so_ seriously, Sasuke wasn't surprised to see that he had been scheduled until closing.

_Again_.

Sasuke got scheduled until closing a lot, seeing as everyone else was lazy, and he always did a spotless job of closing shop, thanks to his anal-retentive nature. It meant that he had a loooong day ahead of him, but at least he knew that the job was going to be done, and done _well_.

However, it was hard to let that be satisfying enough when faced with giggling girls, ignorant adults, and otherwise irate mallgoers all day who were just trying to get food, but making the process-oh-so-difficult. Really, Sasuke wondered, was it that hard to order a teriyaki chicken bowl? Or a vegetarian tempura platter? No, it wasn't. But everyone wanted it tweaked to their liking, nevermind the fact that they could just pick out the vegetables themselves, or order something that they knew rather than ask him every last detail that their meal would consist of.

Honestly, they were a crappy Asian food stand in the mall, not a five star restaurant.

Eventually, thank God, lunch break rolled around, and Sasuke grabbed a business magazine (having forgotten his book at home that morning, as he had been a little distracted thinking about… _not_ last night's party and Naruto) and headed for the barstool at the end of the counter, just as he did every day.

But today, Sasuke held a bit of anticipation for the break. At Neji's party over the weekend, he had managed to spend hours upon hours with that Naruto guy, and had come to find that the kid wasn't half bad, once you got past the annoying attitude and overenthusiastic personality. He was actually rather funny, and a nice guy, albeit a bit crude and blunt. Overall… Sasuke could stand to be around him, and maybe even enjoy himself.

Not that he would ever admit to any of that, of course.

Eventually it had gotten so late that Sasuke had had to force Naruto out of the house, seeing as the blonde didn't want to leave on his own, and they'd run across a rather flustered Neji and Gaara on the living room couch on the way out. Naruto had given the redhead a cheeky grin, wink, and thumbs up as Sasuke shoved him out the door. Gaara actually smirked back ever so slightly, leading Sasuke to finally believe that they two actually knew eachother. Had they not, Naruto surely would have been flipped the bird at the very least.

But the point was that all in all, Sasuke had actually had a rather enjoyable time at the party, which was certainly not as per usual. Naruto livened things up and was interesting and hard to predict, and Sasuke found himself captivated.

Maybe a little bit too much, if the current twisting of his stomach in anticipation over the blonde's imminent arrival to ambush his lunch break was any indication.

Forcing himself to think that it had simply been a long time since he had met anyone different, let alone anyone different that didn't completely piss him off, Sasuke went back to attempting to read his magazine. And he was doing so very well until –

"Well fancy meeting _you_ here!"

With a habitual huff of annoyance Sasuke turned to face who he knew had come to interrupt his break, but he couldn't help the flutter – of… of NOT nervousness! – in his chest.

"No book today, bastard?" Naruto playfully teased, pulling up a menu. As if he even needed to look at it – he always ordered the same ramen bowl. Sasuke just suspected that he was fidgety and needed to be doing something with his hands. "I don't think I've ever seen you without your nose stuck in some stuffy novel."

Deciding to not rise to the bait that Naruto had dangled in front of him about his choice in genres, Sasuke made up a quick excuse. "I finished it. You were there."

Naruto looked puzzled for a second, before enlightenment lit his features and he laughed. "At the party? Bull_shit_! Kiba's _dog_ could pretend to read better than you. You weren't actually reading it at all – or are we _pretending_ that you finished it too, as long as we're playing make believe that you were actually reading?"

Sasuke would have been very offended had it not been for the obviously playful intent and mischievous twinkle in Naruto's blue eyes. Muttering under his breath and going back to pretending to read his magazine, Sasuke listened to Naruto ordering his soup. The kid always did it with such an air of importance, as if requesting noodles was the most significant thing he could ever think to do with his life. Which might have very well been the case.

But what Sasuke didn't know was that Naruto had a lot more on his mind than noodles. For once. The blonde was acting casual as ever, but at the same time he was carefully observing Sasuke's reactions to his presence. Now that they finally knew eachother for who they both really were, Naruto was curious to see if their lunch-break routine was going to be awkward at all, or even just different in any way than it had been before.

And for one thing, Sasuke seemed a lot more willing to interact than before. Not that the ice-prince would ever actually be open about it, but Naruto could tell in the way that the dark haired male would keep sending glances his way, or heaven forbid directing full sentences at him. Before Naruto had been lucky to get a cursory glare and "hn" from the Uchiha. Grinning, Naruto knew that he had wormed his way into Sasuke's "reluctantly acknowledged friend" zone.

He didn't know exactly why he felt like befriending the stoic boy, who was so unlike himself in almost every way, but Naruto had always been the type to act on his impulses first and ask questions later. Something drew him to Sasuke, and had from the start, otherwise why would he have gone out of his way for so long just to say hi and try to get a response of some kind out of the stubborn bastard every single day, even when the odds seemed so against him?

No, there was something about the guy that made Naruto feel like nagging, getting under his skin, pushing in the hopes that Sasuke would push back. Their interactions were half friendly (albeit teasing and mocking) banter, half competition. It made Naruto really feel interested and challenged, and so he was going to keep pushing, just to see how far he could take things.

Initially, it had started as a game of annoying the bastard at the food stand every day. When he'd found out who Sasuke was, it had warped into fabricating a reputation of some kind, and when that had failed it had turned into proving himself. They had settled into a tumultuous sort of curious acceptance for a while at the party, but now it looked like they were now almost back to square one…

Except this time Sasuke's guard was down just enough for Naruto to see that the dark haired man was actually interested in their continued interaction, to some level. Naruto at least no longer felt like he was being blocked out like an unwanted, nagging wife…

… which was good, because it meant that Naruto now had an opening to keep pushing until he figured out what exactly it was he wanted from this Sasuke Uchiha character.

**-o-**

Sasuke hated closing shifts.

They meant that he had to stay at that God-forsaken food stand until the mall closed, which was rather late, not to mention that people generally stopped coming by the food court an hour or so before the mall closed.

Which _meant_ that Sasuke had to stand around at his abandoned little food booth with technically nothing to do for an extended period of time.

Sasuke hated being unproductive.

So he cleaned.

Top to bottom, Sasuke spent his closing shifts cleaning until the pans shone, the stove gleamed, and all of the food ingredients were perfectly organized. It was tedious, but it kept his mind and hands occupied when there was nothing else to do.

There was a radio in the shop that he very well could have fiddled with to his liking, but Sasuke didn't really listen to the radio. They never played anything good between the commercials these days. And so in silence he packed boxes away, locked refrigerators and freezers, and made sure that every speck of dust was swept up. He was doing quite well, ahead of schedule even, until –

"Someone's here awfully late."

'_Naruto_', Sasuke inwardly groaned. What was he doing here? Wasn't the mall closing soon?

"So do you sleep here too? Oh no wait, lemme guess! They couldn't afford a burglar alarm to stay here at night, but you're such a bastard that they figured you'd do just as well! Haha get it? Because you're such a jerk that no one would want to –"

"I get it." Sasuke cut in, organizing noodle packets into their proper containers to give himself an excuse to not look at the blonde. He scowled into the freeze dried noodles when Naruto didn't go away.

Naruto, for his part, smiled and appeared completely undeterred by his joke being cut short. "So what are you doing? Closing up shop?"

Sasuke barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Obviously."

He heard a loud sigh at this, and heard a thump against the counter. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Naruto had leaned heavily on the counter, his elbows propping him up with his face in his hands. Sasuke huffed, turning back to his work and wondering when Naruto was going to leave him alone. Just because he was sort of vaguely interested in some sort of confusing way in Naruto, didn't mean he wanted the loudmouth just hanging around being annoying all the time.

Neither of them spoke for a minute, and Sasuke heard the scuff of a barstool scrape against the floor, indicating that Naruto was settling in. Sasuke moved his attention to the plastic utensils and chopsticks that needed to be wrapped in napkins for the next day in order to cover his shift of discomfort. His interest in the blonde unnerved him. He never _cared_ about anyone, so this new feeling of genuinely wanting to know about someone and sort of be around them was foreign to him. He realized that it was stupid to lash out by being rude or unresponsive, which would be backwards progress in figuring out this new enigma, but he couldn't help it. Call it his coping mechanism, but Sasuke liked to drive away or obliterate anything that intimidated him.

He had just started to turn on his heel to tell Naruto to go home and let him finish closing up in peace, when the blonde spoke.

"So I've been trying to figure it out."

Sasuke paused, before turning the rest of the way around, folding his arms over his chest as he looked at the boy in front of him. Obviously he was being bated into some sort of in-depth conversation, but… he couldn't help it. He took the bite.

"Figure what out?"

Naruto cracked a cheeky smile and slumped forewords, so that most of his upper body was resting on the counter at that point. "What your deal is, obviously." He responded. "It's like… you're popular, and all these people like you, and the girls all want your ass like none other, but you're so damn grumpy all the time."

Sasuke scoffed. "People are annoying."

Shaking his head dismissively, Naruto went on. "No but it's more than that."

Disliking the idea of this boy who was still mostly a stranger to him attempting to psycho-analyze him, Sasuke decided to put an end to it once and for all.

"No." He said, stepping up to the counter and placing his hands on either side of Naruto, fixing him with a glare. "It's not. People annoy me. End of story. They're stupid and petty and greedy and irrational, and I don't like being around them for extended periods of time. I know it's probably unheard of in that stupid little head of yours, but not everyone is a people person. So stop trying to come up with excuses and explanations. I just don't like being around people."

He had expected Naruto to be crestfallen. He had meant to break something in that childishly optimistic heart, so that he could be left alone to do his cleaning. But Naruto was still there, smile and all, and though Sasuke continued to glare at him, it wavered in confusion.

"But you like _me_."

Sasuke wrinkled his nose in distaste. "No I don't."

Leaning forward, Naruto was now completely across the counter, almost nose-to-nose with Sasuke, dangerously perked on his stool by his knees, and wearing a shit eating grin.

"Yes you do. You say you don't but I know you do."

Sasuke stepped back. He hated stepping back, because stepping back was an admission of defeat, even if ever so small, but he felt weird being so close up to the blonde. "I don't know what gave you that impression," he said. "But you're wrong."

"I'm not!" Naruto instead, wiggling excitedly in his chair. "And do you want to know why?"

"No."

"You let me sit next to you every day for lunch. You let me talk to you even though you don't hardly ever say anything back. Sometimes you _do_ talk back, and I've never seen you talk to anyone else before."

"I –" Sasuke tried to cut in, but Naruto pressed eagerly onwards.

"You always pretend to be reading your stupid books, but I know you're not because you're paying attention to me. You could have kicked me out of Neji's party if I was really bothering you that much, but you didn't. You're a complete asshole to me and call me names and tell me to go away, but you never actually do anything about it even though you probably could. And you wanna know why?"

Sasuke was sure he could probably guess the answer, and wanted to say that no, he didn't want to know, but figured he was going to get it either way, so he said nothing.

"It's because you _like_ me."

As all of this absorbed, Sasuke came to the startling conclusion that somewhere, deep down inside, maybe Naruto was right. It was completely stupid, and the blonde idiot was the last person who he ever would have thought he would be interested in being around, but for some unknown reason he just kept coming back for more. He could go somewhere else for his break if Naruto bothered him that much. He could have thrown Naruto off the balcony at the party. I could just lock up and leave the stupid food booth forever if he wanted to… but in the end, he didn't.

Naruto looked on smugly as Sasuke's mind processed all of this. Sasuke glowered at him, but it was more in indignation this time around then outright irritation of any sort.

"You do, don't you?" He pressed.

"Shut up, idiot."

Naruto threw his hands up in the air triumphantly. "HA! I knew it! That wasn't a 'no' and you could have said it if you meant it! Congratulations, bastard, the first inch of that stick up your ass has been successfully removed!"

Sasuke gave into a long suppressed urge, and rolled his dark onyx eyes. Naruto grinned gleefully and stuck his tongue out, causing Sasuke to sigh heavily and shake his head as he went back to closing duties, Naruto babbling away behind him.

"Just you wait you bastard, I'm going to keep coming over here every day and slowly but surely we'll get that thing out! I know you'll miss it, because I'm sure you've grown quite used to it by now, but by the time we're finished you're going to realize that…"

Sasuke toned out the rest. He wasn't sure when this became about trying to get under the other person's skin, or making friends, or whatever Naruto was doing, but he supposed he would go along with it. Maybe keeping him around would be… well, it would be an interesting change in pace, at least.

**-o-**

The next day, during his lunch break, Sasuke brought got his regular cup of coffee and pulled out the same book he had been working on (sort of) over the past few weeks, and took his regular seat at the end of the counter. Just a regular, boring day like any other. He most certainly _wasn't_ waiting for anything or anyone. Nope, not at all.

"Hey there, bastard!"

He looked up, briefly, from his book, and saw Naruto plonk down on a barstool… the one right next to him, not leaving any seat between as he normally would.

Hm. Well, as long as they were mixing things up…

"Idiot." He returned. "Fancy meeting you here."

**-o-**

**.o.O.o.**

OH MY GOD YOU GUYS. OH MY GOD. I AM SO SORRY.

Why did I leave this story abandoned for so long? I promised myself I would never be "that guy" and just look at me! I AM SO SO SO SORRY AAAARRRGHHHHH.

Thank you to EVERY SINGLY PERSON who has reviewed this poor, neglected story, especially all you brave recent reviewers who must have thought that it was a lost cause to ever hope for any conclusion… THIS IS FOR YOU!

I think a part of the reason I lost touch with this fic is because I started to feel like it was going nowhere. But I thought about it today at work, and realized that all I had ever really wanted out of it was to just sort of get Sasuke and Naruto to collide, conflict, and then sort of realize that deep down, they liked eachother and should be friends. And with that in mind, it was easy enough to conclude! I really hope it was worth the wait. D:

ANYWAYS, I hope you liked it, THANK YOU for reading and reviewing, and I PROMISE to never leave any of you wonderful readers hanging like that ever again! Muah!


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